Orbital. A book I lived with for many days and nights. And then for periods I couldn’t make sense of – between rush runs and garrulous concalls, between silent dreams and chaotic honks, between pressured cabins and blinding night-lights. But I held it tight under all circumstances. Because it had become a friend. Across its … More View (and spirit) from Space
I sat with this book for a long time. I didn’t know what I felt more – angry or hopeful. “I would answer violence with art.” But how to do it? Especially when one imagines the intensity, the horror, the sheer inexplicability of violence? Violence that beats its bare chest over the unarmed, defenceless body … More Art over violence, again, and again, and again
ENCANTO | Directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Charise Castro Smith | Voices by Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo My Rating: 10 of 10 Stars Encanto lives upto its name – it casts a mesmerizing spell that refuses to fade despite completing its defined run. There are so many sparkling dusts hidden in the vintage shelves and encrusted … More Know you are good
A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes by Rodrigo GarciaMy Rating: 5 of 5 Stars ’It’s a dizzying sensation to know the destiny of a human being.’ I should know. But may not. Because no matter how well one prepares to say goodbye to a parent, seeing him/ her inching closer to that sunset with every … More Last Days of Gabo
Homo Irrealis by André AcimanMy Rating: 5 of 5 Stars I am the gap between what I am and what I am not. Even before the essays – beautiful, wise, full yet strangely wistful – begin to sing, this quote of the maverick Fernando Pessoa finds place. And that rounds up the mood of the … More Life, as you don’t see it
You have waited patiently, like stars that don’t know any other sky; You have kept me company even when I have casually passed you by; When days have placed the taste of today on my fickle tongue, You have silently pinned your hopes on tomorrow’s song; When nights have heaped on me, a torrent of … More To unfulfilled dreams…
Art Matters by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris RiddellMy Rating: 5 of 5 Stars When I walk down a street I take often, I don’t need telling where the hump is or where the manhole splays. But even so, on days the street light doesn’t work, I feel a pinch; as if the little streak … More Book Review: Art Matters by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris Riddell (2018)
This is Water by David Foster WallaceMy Rating: 5 of 5 Stars ‘This is Water’. Water – Now I love that metaphor. I end up addressing many things and their traits and their progresses and their declines through this unbound source of immense satiation. But how does this fit into a speech delivered to students, facing … More Book Review: This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (2009)
Dear D, Yes, I know it was yesterday. But like your books, I suppose, you too wouldn’t care for worldly conventions; conventions like wishing someone on their birthday. So, I have taken the liberty, and without feeling guilty, of wishing you birthday a day late. Just why though? You can’t hear me. You can’t see … More Happy Birthday, Fyodor Dostoevsky!
Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars [Originally appeared here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/l…] For long now, Khaled Hosseini has cemented his position as an author who imparts a subtle yet searing voice to the victims of war, riots and displacement, especially in the Islamic countries. We have clutched our hearts and have sobbed … More Book Review: Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini (2018)
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